


Marinette's Abs - Gabriel

by OldAnimeFan



Series: Marinette's Abs [7]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Gen, Marinette's abs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-29
Updated: 2016-11-29
Packaged: 2018-09-03 03:22:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8694424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OldAnimeFan/pseuds/OldAnimeFan
Summary: Gabriel Agreste wants to talk with Marinette about her bare-abs karate outfit.





	

"Marinette, my father wants to talk with you after school tomorrow at five o'clock. And, he wants to see that karate outfit you're wearing, so please come dressed in that."

Adrien's father, the famous designer Gabriel Agreste, had asked me to come over to his house (or as I liked to think of it, Adrien's house). I had made that Derby hat that he liked, but why would he want me to wear my karate outfit... My abs-baring outfit... You don't think it could be that, do you?

That's what I asked Alya after school. I could always talk with her.

"Alya, what if Mr. Agreste has seen my outfit.

"What if he has seen my bare-abs outfit?

"What will he think?

"Will he see that bare-abs outfit as too much for his Adrien?

"What if he doesn't want Adrien associating with someone who wears an outfit like mine!

"What if he thinks that every girl in the school is like that!

"What if he takes Adrien out of school and locks him up at home, in a locked room, never to leave his house again!

"What if... What if..."

"Girl, stop with all those what ifs. Your outfit is just fine. If Adrien can withstand that weekend at the beach, with all the girls there in their French bikinis, I'm sure your outfit is just fine.

"Just go!"

The next day, I was early for school, remarkably. After talking with Alya, I had spent that whole evening printing out my design and notes from the computer and carefully putting them into a portfolio I kept some of my sketches in. If Mr. Agreste was going to judge my design, I was at least going to show him that I had a specific reason for that abs-baring design. It was designed that way so it was more comfortable and flexible than a karate Gi during sparring, and was open so it would be cool. Yes, that's what I was going to tell him. But of course, I wasn't going to mention that I also designed it to show off my abs, to Adrien.

Just after school was over for the day, I dressed in my karate outfit. I covered up the top just with my school blazer, buttoned so that my bare abs didn't show. With it buttoned up like that, it looked very much like my normal school outfit, but white, with slightly-longer Capris for the pants. So dressed like this, I could walk the streets of Paris without anyone noticing what was underneath that blazer, which was almost nothing. Almost nothing but bare abs, that is.

I knocked on the Agreste mansion gates at the appointed time, just a little early, so I would be at the front door at precisely five o'clock. Nathalie, Mr. Agreste's personal assistant, ushered me in. When she offered to take my blazer, I hesitated a little, not really wanting to show off what was underneath just yet. But I realized I would need to do it eventually, so I unbuttoned my blazer and took it off, handing it to Nathalie. She took it from me, folding it over her arm, nodded slightly and walked away with it into another room. And to her credit, there were no disapproving looks at what was underneath. Maybe Adrien had already told her all about it, but I liked to think she was being thoroughly professional. I think she would have reacted the same way if I wasn't wearing anything at all under the blazer (and I immediately put that thought out of my mind, burying it as deep as I could).

To my relief, Adrien came out of that same room, passing Nathalie as she went in. At least I wouldn't be all alone when I was confronted by Mr. Agreste. At least I would have someone to stick up for me if needed. And it would be Adrien.

Adrien!

"Eeeeeeee!"

Gabriel Agreste appeared at the top of the staircase. It took all my resolve to not cover up my bare abs with my hands.

"Miss Marinette," he said. "I hear from Adrien that you are wearing that outfit you have on now at all his karate classes. He tells me that the traditional outfit for karate training is the Gi that he wears.

"I see that it is the same as shown in those photos Miss Bourgeois posted on the Internet, on her private web page."

My first thought was, "Chloé posted pictures of me on the Internet? Without my permission! How dare she!"

My second thought was, "I wonder how I can get copies of those pictures..."

And my third thought was, "How did Mr. Agreste get access to Chloé's private web site?"

"It is just as daring and revealing as those pictures showed," he continued.

"Uh oh," I thought, "here it comes. He's going to kick Adrien out of school over this. I'll never see him again."

"Adrien told me you designed it yourself. So would you please describe to me why you designed it the way you did?" Mr. Agreste said, as he came down the stairs, approaching me.

This was my only chance, my only chance to defend myself. If I failed, I would never see Adrien again.

Nervously, I took out the original sketch I made of the outfit. I told him most of my reasoning, that I found the traditional karate Gi design too confining, too rigid, too hot and overall, not very suited for fighting (yes, I used that word, before I realized I had used it). I described my new design, focusing on my original intent, to create an outfit that fit good and felt good when I was practicing karate. That was all.

I described the tradeoffs I needed for that goal, such as the overall design (two-piece, cool, slightly tight but not too tight, conforming to stay in place and not wrinkle), the cloth selection (light, tough, strong, flexible, cool and sweat-absorbent, with a little stretch) and the stitch selection (very strong thread and stitch pattern, but designed to stretch with the fabric), and the bare-abs overall design I attributed to allowing for natural cooling (instead of showing off my abs for Adrien to see).

As I described my design, Mr. Agreste was looking up and down my outfit. "Miss Marinette..."

"You can just call me Marinette."

"All right, Marinette, please turn around for me so I can get a better view of your design."

And for the next few minutes, he had me turning, stretching, holding my arms up, squatting and generally showing off my outfit (and by extrapolation, my bare abs). And I was glad I had designed it so it was sweat-proof, since I definitely was sweating, as much as I had in any of Adrien's karate training classes.

Finally, he stepped back. "Miss Marinette. The design is very daring, very open."

Uh oh, here it comes.

"I have something I want you to think about very carefully," he said, as he looked over my outfit a last time, scrutinizing it, his eyes stopping on my bare abs for a couple seconds before continuing on.

Uh oh!

"You've put a lot of thought into your outfit. It is bold, daring, fashionable."

Bold and daring yes, but fashionable?

"So I would like to purchase the rights to your design."

Buy? My...design?

"I looked up your copyright and design rights."

That could have only come from Adrien, from when I told Chloé about that.

"Very wise to register them as you did. But in any case, I would have wanted to purchase those rights from you.

"I can offer you an amount for the rights that would easily put you through any of the top Universities of Europe. Of course, since you are under the age of consent, I would need to put it into a trust that you could access once you are older. And of course, your parents would have to agree to my offer."

"But... But... But..." was all I could think of to say.

"Take your time to think about it. When you are ready, I'll await your answer."

"No!" I said.

"No... Yes... I mean...

"I mean I don't need to think about it.

"I'll accept your offer! Yes, I'll accept your offer""

"Excellent," he said. "I'll have my lawyers contact your parents tomorrow, so please speak with them ahead of time, so they know all about our arrangements.

"Here are my plans for this. I want to make this the center of a new action fashion line, all derived from your design. With your permission, I would like to name it 'The Marinette Collection.' I would take your design and turn it into a whole set of sportswear, aimed at the fashion-forward, sports-active girl.

"Of course, we'll need to get your current outfit so we can disassemble it to create patterns from, and to use as the basis for the new line."

"No need for that. I have the patterns right here," and I pulled out the sheath of papers I had with me. "And here's a flash drive with the design I did in digital, computer form."

"Fantastic! That is more than enough, I believe.

"Now come with me into the dining room. I want you to go over your design in detail. And Nathalie, please take notes."

We moved into the dining room. The table was long enough to seat all my family, all my cousins and all of their families too. I spread the printouts of my design on the table. And over the next hour or so, we discussed my design.

We discussed all the details of my design.

"Marinette, have you thought about how to commercially release your design?"

"Not really, as I hadn't been planning on doing this until a few minutes ago. But, I have a few ideas that might work.

"First, I think you should release the design as two separate parts. That way, the customers could select each part themselves. Since there are many female body types, you could make the top sized like a bra. Because it only covers the upper body, you don't have to worry about the length of the body, as it would fit any body, from short to tall. And the fabric I use comes in a variety of stretchiness. So if you want, you can use a more stretchable fabric than I used, and that would make each size cover a greater range of body sizes, meaning you could reduce the number of size variations you would need to make.

"The pants are designed like regular Capris, so can be sized just like them, with maybe fewer sizes."

"Marinette, the design looks like it fits you exactly. How did you do that?"

"First, I tailored it specifically to my body. But that would not be apropos for a commercial release." Pointing at my drawings, I said, "You know, if you made a second type of outfit, with basting stitches here, here and here for easy removal, and added an extra centimetre or two to the seams, you could release the design in a tailorable version, one that a customer could have easily tailored specifically for their body. And of course, you could charge more for it than the off-the-rack version."

We continued discussing my design and how to modify it for mass production for well over an hour. We both came up with ways to make it cheaper, less than half the cost of my original design, but still keep all the strength and flexibility that had been my driving goal for the design. We kept the original concept, that it fit good and felt good, no matter how strenuously the wearer exercised.

I learned a lot about how to make an outfit, and also about how the fashion industry worked, just talking with Mr. Agreste.

"I want to make this a sports line that will appeal to all girls, our primary target customers," he said, "And I want to make a version that will also appeal to boys. We could modify the design a little so it would fit them too."

"No!" I said. "I can't see any way to modify my design to appeal to boys too. But give me a little time, and I'll design one for boys, one that would complement my design, but be masculine enough to attract boys. Give me the weekend, and I'll do up a new design for them too."

"A...weekend?" he said, rather puzzled. "How long did it take you to do your design?"

"Well, I started on Saturday morning, but it took me all that day to do it and to get the fabric for it."

"So it took you a day to design this?"

"Of course not! I had been thinking about the design a little the previous couple days, and I had to modify the design Sunday too. And when I tailored it for me, I had to modify the design a little more as I was fitting it."

"Miss Marinette. The usual design cycle for a new product is around a month in my fashion design shop, with many designers working on it. And you did the same in just a couple days."

He looked thoughtful. "If you have the time, say during the summer break, I can offer you a position at my fashion design shop."

"You mean as an unpaid intern? An apprentice?" I said.

"No, as a full designer, with full pay. I think your design skills will be very useful to our staff there. And you would get experience in what the fashion industry is like. And after you graduate from the University, I can guarantee you a position in my company as a designer, if you want your career to go in that direction.

"I have one final question," he said. "That floral design you have embroidered on your outfit. Where did you get that from?"

"That's a design I did a long time back. I use it as my signature design, on all my clothes."

"Excellent! We could add that to all the designs we produce in the line, with your permission of course. It will be the 'signature' for the Marinette Collection."

"Well, I'll have to come up with another one for the boys' line, as that one is too girly for them. But I think I can do it," I said.

"One other thing," I continued. "Since I'll be doing a boys' version this weekend, I'll need a model I can fit it to."

And here's the big one, I thought.

"Do you think Adrien would be available this Sunday afternoon, so I can tailor my new design to him and correct the design as needed? It would be a great help."

"Yes, I think that could be arranged. Bring your design here Sunday afternoon, and you can fit it in one of our dressing rooms."

"Eeeeeeee!"

"OK, then I'll see you on Sunday with the new design. And I'll talk this over with my parents, so they'll be prepared for this tomorrow."

I turned to Adrien, who had a dazed look on his face, probably from all the fashion talk between his father and me over the last hour, "And I'll see you on Sunday afternoon too."

"Eeeeeeee!"

When I got home, I told my parents what I had talked about with Mr. Agreste and what he had said about buying my design. My father especially was proud of me. But both of my parents wholeheartedly supported my decision. So they were ready for Mr. Agreste's lawyer when he came the next day.

The amount of the trust was fantastic. But of course, the way it was written, it was for my university education and I would not be able to use it before then. And as Mr. Agreste said, it would cover my higher education completely, with enough left over to start my career, whatever I decided that to be.

I spent the weekend designing the new boys' outfit to match my design. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be, since all my previous designs had been for me, not a boy. But I was done that Saturday, mainly because I already had the material and didn't need to search all Paris for that. And Sunday morning, I created the paper pattern, cut the fabric and sewed it together with a temporary stitch.

Sunday afternoon at two o'clock, I went over to Adrien's house (that is Mr. Agreste's house, I had to keep reminding myself). Adrien was already waiting for me. I gave him the outfit and he changed into it. It needed tailoring, of course, as I had to guess at a lot of his measurements. Of course, I had all his basic measurements already, (you can find just about anything on the Internet, especially for someone as famous as Adrien, and I had already looked them up before).

I tailored the outfit to fit him, pinning the fabric until I could do the final sewing. And as I made the adjustments, I updated the design on my laptop. Periodically, I would step back and ask Adrien to turn around and bend a little this way and that, as I viewed the outfit.

Adrien's bare abs!

On display for me to see!

Up close!

"Eeeeeeee!"

When I had completed the tailoring to my liking, I asked him to take it off, "Eeeeeeee!" and I re-sewed it with the strong stitch pattern I had used on my outfit. With that stitch and thread, I knew it wouldn't rip or tear even when he was sparring with Alya. And that actually happened. But more on that later.

Finally, I had Adrien put the outfit on again, and Mr. Agreste looked it over. He asked me to put mine on for comparison. We did some basic posing for Mr. Agreste, as he put us through a set of poses, similar to what he had done with me that first time.

"Very nice," he said.

We discussed the production of the new design a little (actually, again over an hour), and I left. I still had the weekend's homework to do, all the stuff I had put off to do Adrien's design. I got everything all done, but really late at night. And, with all the work I had been doing this weekend, I was asleep before my head hit the pillow.

The next day, at Adrien's karate class, he wore the new outfit. "Father said he wanted me to wear this instead of my Gi to make sure it would last during the training," he said to me, "and to get my opinion of it. So far, I really like it."

Adrien liked me... I mean liked it, my outfit.

Alya and Alix liked it too, since they were wearing their gym tops and the Gi pants, so we would all be on equal footing for the judo that Alix was still teaching us.

At the end of the lesson, Adrien took me to one side. "Marinette, would you be available next Saturday morning? Father said he would like to do a preliminary fashion photoshoot in the park with both of us wearing your outfits."

"Yes!

"Yes, of course," I said, more controlled this time.

"Fine. Meet me in the park at ten o'clock, and we'll get some photos taken of us in the new outfits."

Me!

"Eeeeeeee."

Adrien!

"Eeeeeeee."

Together! 

"Eeeeeeee!"

In the park!

"Eeeeeeee!"

"Eeeeeeee!"


End file.
